General Security Architecture

Abstract

We have sketched the technical architecture of e-postage systems. They are just another kind of largely distributed system comparable to flight reservation systems, or electronic banking systems. The security risks related to these servers and networks can be analyzed by standard computer security measures and tools. Lots of advice is available for comparing security measures like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, virus scanners, and so forth [93,93]. All of this must be carefully planned, installed, and reviewed and maintained on a regular basis, but it is hardly if at all specific to e-postage systems. What is highly specific to e-postage systems is their cryptographic security design. Thus, we introduce in this chapter the general security architectures of offline and online e-postage systems before we take a closer look at industry examples of e-postage systems in the following chapter.